The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, speaks from the National Palace with his wife, Gabriela RodrĂguez. Photo: Rodrigo Sura/EFE.
The presidential elections were held within the framework of a state of exemption, complaints of human rights violations, and questions about the constitutionality of the immediate re-election.
Without an official announcement from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) of El Salvador and with only 31.5% of the votes counted, incumbent Nayib Bukele proclaimed himself the winner of the presidential elections held this Sunday, February 4, stating that he had obtained more than 85% of the votes.
Thus, while waiting for the official results from the TSE, Nayib Bukele celebrated the unconfirmed electoral victory. The electoral process was characterized by low turnout, the advantage of the ruling party, and complaints of irregularities.
According to preliminary results, the current president, from the Nuevas Ideas party obtained the majority of the votes (1,295,888), while his rivals from the Farabundo Martà National Liberation Front (FMLN) and the Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena), Manuel Flores and Joel Sánchez, respectively, obtained 110,244 and 96,700 votes, respectively.
#ELSALVADORDECIDE2024 | Con el 31.49% de las actas procesadas el partido Nuevas Ideas del presidente @nayibbukele alcanza el primer lugar en las elecciones presidenciales
Nayib Bukele busca su segundo periodo presidencial en medio de denuncias por la forma en la que consiguió… pic.twitter.com/xxl6IBUxPR
— teleSUR TV (@teleSURtv) February 5, 2024
The presidential and legislative elections were held within the framework of a state of exemption, complaints of human rights violations, and questions about the way in which immediate re-election was approved by the Bukele-controlled Supreme Court..
Irregularities
Throughout election day, El Salvador’s opposition parties complained about a series of irregularities committed by President Nayib Bukele’s party. Before the start of the electoral process, the FMLN candidate, Manuel Flores, denounced the TSE for abusing its power.
The Salvadoran opposition leader said that acts of coercion and threats of dismissal have been carried out against public officials who do not vote for the incumbent candidate.
For Manuel Flores, such actions are part of the abuse of power by Nayib Bukele’s government. After Nayib Bukele’s self-proclamation as re-elected president, Manuel Flores pointed out that his party, the FMLN, had complied with electoral laws. The FMLN candidate added that it is not easy to face an election with an entire state devoted to one party.
#EnVideo | El candidato presidencial del @FMLNoficial, @ChinoFloressv aseguró que no ha sido fácil afrontar una elección con un Estado completo volcado a un partido pic.twitter.com/nlA36jErJG
— teleSUR TV (@teleSURtv) February 5, 2024
Flores also denounced that electoral officials ignored several irregularities committed by Nayib Bukele’s party, Nuevas Ideas, during the campaign, pointing out that against all odds, the FMLN became the second political force in the country.
The Arena party also pointed out irregularities in the voting, stating that the incumbent candidate violated electoral silence on repeated occasions in a system that favors and protects him. The leadership of the Arena right-wing party accused the TSE of complicity in allowing representatives of the ruling party to act with total impunity in voting centers both nationally and internationally.
Arena also warned of the replacement of properly trained personnel with others who do not have the proper training and credentials required by the TSE.
In another incident, the Salvadoran-Canadian writer Carlos Bucio Borja was detained by police agents when he read aloud the articles of the Constitution of the Republic that prohibit presidential re-election. Carlos Bucio Borja was arrested at the Concha Viuda de EscalĂłn voting center, in the neighborhood of the same name.
Detuvieron al poeta Carlos Bucio Borja, en el centro de votaciĂłn Concha Viuda de EscalĂłn, por leer algunos artĂculos de la ConstituciĂłn de El Salvador que prohĂben la reelecciĂłn inmediata de Nayib Bukele.@WorldPoetryM @Ferre_Rendon1 https://t.co/LJfvOVpY1b
— William Alfaro (@WilliamAlfaroSV) February 4, 2024
The writer and poet was surrounded by National Police (PNC) agents who demanded that he leave the electoral center, to which those present began to protest against the police and demand their constitutionally protected right to freedom of expression.
“They are violating Article 6 (of the Constitution)!” shouted Bucio Borja when the police approached him and forcibly detained him. Bucio Borja referred to Bukele as a “dictator.”
TSE pronouncement
When offering the first balance of election day, the president of the TSE, Dora Esmeralda MartĂnez, reported on some incidents related to the opening and closing of voting centers both nationally and abroad.
The head of the TSE pointed out that due to problems with the tenants and owners of the electoral centers abroad, some had to be closed despite the fact that numerous registered voters had not yet cast their ballots.
Given this fact, Dora Esmeralda MartĂnez said that as an electoral entity, they will take the corresponding measures to guarantee that all people affected by the incident vote as soon as possible.
Most of the voting centers set up for the presidential and legislative elections closed at 5 p.m. local time this Sunday (11 p.m. UTC), giving way to the start of the recount of the elections in which Bukele is running even though the Constitution does not allow it.
The path to Bukele’s unconstitutional re-election opened in 2021, when the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, which had been appointed by the ruling party-controlled Congress, without following the legal procedure, changed a criterion for interpreting the Constitution.
Throughout the campaign, Nayib Bukele called on Salvadorans to vote to continue the “war against gangs” and continue the emergency regime that, according to humanitarian organizations, violates basic human rights.
The state of exception has left more than 6,000 complaints of abuses, including arbitrary arrests and torture, in addition to some 220 deaths of detainees, according to humanitarian organizations.
Bukele’s words
The opposition in El Salvador has been “pulverized,” declared Nayib Bukele after proclaiming himself the winner of the presidential elections held in the Central American country in clear violation of the powers of the TSE, which has not yet made the results official.
(Telesur) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
